(Sikhs are an Indian ethnic minority best known for wearing turbans. They are however monotheists and have been fighting Islam for hundreds of years)
We read:
"Homophobic remarks attributed to Sikh leader Balwant Singh Gill in The Vancouver Sun have unleashed a firestorm within the queer community, spotlighting divisions between those who say homophobia is the primary issue and others more focused on what they consider the racist response to Gill's comments.
The Sun's Dec 15 story, "Canada's Changing Moral Landscape," quotes Gill as saying: "I hate homosexuality. Most Sikhs believe homosexuality is unnatural and you can't produce kids through it. And, secondarily, no major religion allows it."
The article, which refers to Gill as "the spokesperson for 39 Sikh temples in BC" examines the question of whether new immigrants are "changing the face of what's considered right and wrong" in Canada....
Popat feels that not only homophobia but racism has been a major factor shaping both the fiery debate in the wake of Gill's comments and the Sun story in which they appeared. Popat questions the framing of the Sun story. Among the concerns raised in the article is whether immigrants are "the main reason British Columbians are losing their reputation as morally easy-going and freedom-loving." The story also states that foreign-born residents are "much more inclined than longtime residents to be strict moralists."
Sun managing editor Kirk LaPointe won't discuss Popat's concerns with Xtra West but says he would be happy to discuss them with Popat directly. LaPointe says the Sun was doing its public duty and acting in its readers' interests by publishing the story. "We thought it was of public interest when someone expresses things to have the public understand that."
Source
So a newspaper reports (undoubtedly correctly) that Sikhs generally dislike homosexuality and it gets called racist for doing so!
And the Sikh guy gets attacked for having a perfectly normal opinion within his community! You are not allowed to dislike homosexuality in authoritarian Canada, apparently. As in the old Soviet Russia, you can think certain things but you are not allowed to say them.
But the Sikh guy is unlikely to get hauled before one of Canada's kangaroo courts. He is brown, you see.
